236 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ OCTOBER, 
gathered from near trees—say, from a heap laid in an orchard—where the blight 
had hold. For its remedy, I conld only suggest shaking the plants free of all 
soil, and washing them leaf and root in a strong solution of soft-soap and water, 
and afterwards in pure water. 
Paraffin oil is known to be a deadly poison to mealy aphis, and I have reason 
to think that a flavour of it in the washing mixture would not damage Auricula- 
roots, and might be some additional security. I should not, however, venture 
with it yet upon valuable plants, but trust to washing and a sweet new soil. 
With regard to diseases of the Auricula, perhaps as much is due to careless 
and wrong treatment as to the natural liabilit}^ of the plant. It is quite the 
exception to see sick plants in a well-tended collection. They should never 
approach to anything so marked as “ a feature ” in it; though, of course, there 
will ever be some trace, even in things most innocent, of that sorrow and death 
in which the whole creation groans together. 
And again, however obscure a disease may be, its remedies are simple, few, 
and sharp. We can only help the plant by cutting out every affected tissue, 
and by correcting anything wrong in drainage, or ventilation, or soil, or drip upon 
the foliage, that we can trace the mischief to. 
A plant will suddenly sometimes droop in foliage, evidently not from want 
of water. Sometimes the heart will be unnaturally drawn to one side, and 
assume an unwholesome light or yellow-green, or the foliage will turn sickly and 
fade off. These symptoms are all due to disease of the stem or neck. There is 
naught for all this but cutting or carving out all unsoundness, and keeping the 
plant dry and airy till recovery sets in. Anotlier affection of the stem shows 
itself in black specks on a cross-section, and cripples the foliage. In this disease 
the whole texture of the stem becomes unkind and indurated, and cannot root 
healthily. The only hope lies in saving the top of the plant, if the disease has 
not struck so high. 
Nothing that I have said as to canker or rot must be confounded with that 
natural function of decay by which the Auricula parts with its superfluous old 
stem. That process always occurs at the base of the “ carrot,” the dead part 
separating easily and sweetly, with no ill-effect upon the life of the plant, whereas 
rot and canker take place on vital parts higher up. 
The roots, too, have an affection of their own, a clubbing or swelling at the 
ends, which stops all progress in the plant. This seems due to something not in 
the composition of the soil, but in its mechanical condition; and only a plant or 
two of a large number potted in precisely the same compost will perhaps be thus 
affected. It is best met by removing all the clubbed portions, and striking the 
plant in a compost not so firmly pressed down, for excess of closeness in the soil 
seems to induce this deformity ; and it appears at times when it is scarcely likely 
that a sudden change of temperature between foliage and roots could account for 
this very serious and curious check, under which the affected fibres seem incapable 
of doing anything further for the plant.— ^F. D. Horner, Kirkhy Malzeard^ JRipon. 
